IN THE BEGINNING

Part 1 Publication #160.03

1In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Gen. 1:1. (beginning: rshyth...the first , in place, time, order or rank (specifically a firstfruit ), principal thing. (Strongs Exhaustive Concordance) Human beings of the earth had a beginning. They are creatures of time. They are locked in time. Their existence began at a definite point in time. Being prisoners of time, they think in fragments of time. They think of beginnings as having to do with starting points. In the natural world, and from the human perspective, this, of course, is true. They indeed begin somewhere in a specific area of space and/or time. However, when we look into spiritual matters, our vision broadens and transcends every human perspective. It is then we see beyond natural limitations. We see beyond those things that are seemingly set forever in concrete. We see beyond that which is assumed to be formed in the solid mold of space and time. Then we see into the eternal things of God, and the first thing we see is the Beginning! We see the One who said "I am the Beginning!" We see the One who said, "I am the First!" We see Jesus Christ in Whom God created all things! We see the One in whom all things consist! (Col 1:17). IN HIM dwells ALL THE FULLNESS of the Godhead bodily. In Jesus Christ dwells the fullness of Deity. And it pleased God to create everything in His Son (Col 1:19). Nothing was left out. In Him were all things created and made complete. We see this in Colossians 1:16. It says, "For by (Grk. en , in) Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by (dia, through) Him, and for (eis , into) Him." Rather than all things being created by Jesus, which would place everything outside of Himself they were created IN Him . The Amplified Bible renders it very near the same way: "For it was in Him that all things were created, in heaven and on earth, things seen and things unseen, whether thrones, dominions, rulers or authorities; all things were created and exist through Him by His service, (intervention) and in and for Him ." The New Revised Standard Version of the Bible translates the prepositions correctly, except for the last one, where the word for ( eis) is most often into. Notwithstanding, the verse is very well done: "For in Him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers--all things have been created through Him and for Him." The Emphatic Diaglott has it as from Him, through Him, and into Him . There is a difference between something being created by Him and created i n Him . This should be clear to anyone with the comprehension of at least a fourth grader. There is another passage (John 1:1-3) where this small, yet important, preposition is found. We will first look at the King James Version: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by (dia, through) Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made." The Amplified Bible says: "In the beginning [before all time] was the Word [Christ], and the Word was with God, and the Word was God Himself. [Isa. 9:6.] He was present originally with God. All things were made and came into existence through Him; and without Him was not even one thing made that has come into being." And likewise with the Diaglott, the New Revised Standard Version, and the New International Version. I have not looked at the other translations in our library; but suffice it to say the heavens and the earth, and everything in them were created and made IN and THROUGH Jesus Christ. Moreover, if He is lifting us from our polarized mind-set, our spirits will bear witness of what we are saying. We will see beyond the plumb-line of human reasoning, and we will know our origin as well as our destiny. Paul summed it up when he wrote: "In Him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And we are complete in Him " (Col 2:9-10). This is hard to visualize, but only in the natural. When we awake in the Lord's Day, in His Day, in the Day of Rest, we rise and see things as they are and not as they appear. All of God's works, everything He made was made in Christ before it was ever seen in the earth. Before a blade of grass grew, it already was, and likewise were you and me. The fact is, we were here before we got here, and if the

Spirit of inspiration is settling in, we will see it and know it to be true. "Paul also said: 10 We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto (Grk. en, in ) good works, which God hath before ordained (to fit up in advance, Strongs) that we should walk in them. Eph. 2:10. (rf., Silence Before Thunder , Pub. #00.134). Out from Him came all things. Since all were out of Him, out from the One who is Light, all have dwelled in darkness, even to this day. When anything leaves light it enters shadows and darkness, as we see with Adam. The enlightenment of the human mind, as bright as it may appear to shine is darkness. Jesus said, 23But if thine eye be evil , thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! Matt. 6:23. (evil: ponros, from the base of G3993 which indicates degeneracy from original virtue... ill ... diseased . G3993, pens, to toil for daily subsistence; starving ... indigent. Strongs) Notwithstanding, mankind was never meant to remain forever in darkness, and we can see the victorious journey in Romans 11:36. First, all came out of Him. Second, all go through Him; namely, through His Life, through His joy, through His sorrow, through His sufferings, through His temptations, through His humiliation, through His cross, through His death, and through His everlasting resurrection. And third, all these things (you and me and all others) are either now entering, have already entered, or will enter back into Him. If we are not there, it is assured we will come to that full End ; for that End, beloved, the fulness of Christ, is our destiny. One of the phrases of the old song we used to sing says it very well. It tells of this vast journey in a few words: "To know our origin is to know our destiny," and it is so true. With the law of circularity, it can be nothing else. The law mandates that all will make their circuit and return to their origin, which is none other than Christ their Beginning. Another has voiced this same beautiful chord from whom we will borrow. J. Preston Eby wrote: "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lordthe first and the last" (Rev. 1:8,11). I have heard it said that when Jesus called Himself the first and the last He was claiming to be both the first Adam who stood in the garden of Eden and ate the forbidden fruit, and the last Adam who came to take away the sin of the world. How could this be, my friends? If Jesus had been the first Adam by whose disobedience sin entered into the world, through whom death passed upon all men, then would He not have needed a Saviour ? He would need another Son to save Him from His sin and death! Now if this sinner , Jesus Christ, came to earth again as the last Adam by whose obedience the many are made righteous and given eternal life how did Adam the sinner become Adam the righteous without a Saviour? If He saved Himself without a Saviour then obviously there was no need for Him to come as our Saviour for if one sinner can be made righteous apart from a Saviour, surely any man, or even all men, could make themselves righteous apart from the action of another. If Jesus had been the first Adam of the Garden, He could not have been an acceptable sacrifice, pure, spotless, and without blemish. We know, however, that He was the acceptable sacrifice slain from the foundation of the world and ye were not redeemed by such corruptible things as silver and goldbut with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot (I Peter 1:18-19). "It is always a fatal mistake for any man, regardless of who he is, to add to the word of God. That mistake will lead him into error and many strange and unscriptural absurdities. When men say what the scriptures do not say they are strumming on harps that have no strings. They make a lot of interesting noise, but there is no harmony with the rest of Gods revelation. You see, dear ones, Jesus did indeed say, I am the first and the last . But He clearly did not say, "I am the first Adam and the last Adam ." When you add the word "Adam" to Christs statement you have qualified it and changed its meaning altogether! You could add any word to His statement and make it mean anything you please! Jesus proclaims that He is the first and the last period. This momentous statement reaches far beyond Adam first or last! It reaches from eternity to eternity and encompasses all things. The statement corresponds to the other terms that accompany it the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending . How gloriously do the New Testament writers describe what it means for Christ to be the first ! "I am the beginning. I am the ending. I am thy redeemer. I am thy strength. I am He that liveth. I am He that is alive forevermore. I am He that shutteth and no man openeth and openeth and no man shutteth...."In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was Godand the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:1,14). "He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. The whole vast creation was made in Him and for Him. Before the sun ever kissed this earth, creation began in Him and it will end in Him , for He is the beginning and the end. The Christ is the beginning of the creation of God! These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, THE BEGINNING OF THE CREATION OF GOD (Rev. 3:14). Christ is the beginning of

creation and He is also the end, all things must begin in Him and end in Him, for this is the Fathers purpose for His Son! We came out of God in our beginning! And now we are returning into God, but with a redeemed mind (soul) and body. "Therefore, in Him , creation was one harmonious whole without a discordant note anywhere! It was preeminently a spiritual creation, vibrating as a symphony of unutterable beauty, a triumphant masterpiece of dynamic harmonious accord. In the glory of that celestial beginning we were all sons of God ; there was no trace of sin, no evil, no carnal mind, no adversary, no death, and no darkness or discord at all. Everything everywhere existed in Christ and every spirit stood forth in its full majesty, pulsating the dynamic anthem of exulting creative glory. What a song!" (Kingdom Bible Studies, From The Candlestick to the Throne, Part 14, The Alpha And Omega).
25Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in Me, though he w ere dead, yet shall he live: 26And w hosoever liveth and believeth in (eis/into ) Me shall never die. Believest thou this? John 11:25-26. The same One w ho said, I am the Resurrection and the Life also said, I am the Beginning, as already related. These terms are synonymous. They mean the same. They are interchangeable. Therefore, He could have just as easily said, "Whosoever liveth and believeth into the Beginning shall never die." Ah, but the question arises, how do w e believe into the Beginning? As long as w e think on the natural plain, w e cant. As long as w e view things on the linear playing field, w e cant. As long as w e remain steeped in traditional thought patterns, w e cant. As long as w e sit on our little chair in front of the store, w atching eternitys parade pass by that Brother Eby describes so w ell, w e cant. How ever, dear fellow sojourners of the Beginning, w hen w e are lifted into the heights of the heavens, w hen our eyes are lifted from the natural to the spiritual, w hen w e are transformed by the renew ing of our minds w e w ill see the Beginning! We w ill see the Ending! We w ill see the expanse of Christ Jesus our Lord! And w e w ill know all is w ell and be able to declare the same. We w ill see everything of the heavens and the earth w hich w ere created in Christ the Beginning . We w ill see their generations before they w ere put in the earth, before there w as a man to till the ground. When view ing and thinking from the earth, it is not easy to lay hold of the bold truth that God made everything in Christ before physical forms w ere seen. Nevertheless, the fact still remains, everything w as made before ever an eye rested upon any of it: "These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth w hen they w ere created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, 5And every plant of the field before it w as in the earth , and every herb of the field before it grew : for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground." Gen. 2:4-5. (generations: tow ledah; descendants, families, history. ) Until w e see and hear from that high and holy place, and until the season of rain graces the earth w ith refreshing life, the Sons of God w ill remain sealed in the clouds of heaven. Every finished w ork is held in the Beginning. They are ready, in store, w aiting for the thundering call to descend. They have all been in patient reserve; for the LORD God HAS NOT CAUSED THIS RAIN to fall upon the earth . But, oh, my friend, it w ill rain! There is a time for the dew , a time for the mist, and a time for the rain. There is a time for God's w ork w hich He created in the Beginning to be manifested. Do you smell the rain? You should. It is in the air. In God's holy clouds of the heavens, in those myriads of Himself, in those generations created in the Beginning oh, w hat a blessed place to be! But w e are not to remain there forever. When the hour comes, and our Lord's voice thunders through the ranks of His heavenly host, w e as rain shall descend upon the earth and give fruit in due season. It w ill be as Isaiah prophesied of things to come forth that w ere already created: "Drip dow n, O heavens, from above, And let the clouds pour dow n righteousness; Let the earth open up and salvation bear fruit, And righteousness spring up w ith it. I, the LORD, have created it ." Isa. 45:8 NASB (rf. Rest In The Finished Works, #00.133). In the Beginning in the First Rank, in Christ the Firstfruit, the Principal Thing God created the heaven and earth and all their generations. And be reminded, that Beginning w as not a starting point in linear space and time, but a Person, the One w ho carried everything created in heaven and earth to the cross w ith Him, and then back into life in resurrection glory. All things w ere not created by Him

but in Him. It is in Him that all fullness dw ells . For in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers all things were created through him and into Him. Everything is out of Him, through Him, and into Him, and w e are complete in Him w here all fullness dw ells. And w e are ordained to walk in that fullness. Much of w hat w as created in the Beginning w hich came out of Him remains in darkness; but w e are in Him and are not in darkness. As the veil of darkness is lifted from the face of humanitys soul, as the Deep of God calls to their deep, they too will see their origin and will know their destiny the End, the fullness of God in their Lord Jesus Christ. We are believing into the Beginning; therefore, our Ending is the same the fullness of Jesus Christ. It is draw ing nigh, and w e shall never die! And by living, w e shall rain His light of life upon those in darkness, all those w ho came out of the Beginning . Oh yes! "Drip dow n, O heavens, from above, And let the clouds pour dow n righteousness; Let the earth open up and salvation bear fruit, And righteousness spring up w ith it. I, the LORD, have created it !" To be continued... Elw in R. Roach

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